Raipur: Dispelling weeks of speculations and chatter on social media surrounding the serial poisoning cases that came to light at Kharve village in the Kasdol block of Chhattisgarh’s Balodabazar district, the police a 50-year-old grocery store owner after he confessed to being behind the disturbing trail of deaths that sent shockwaves in the area.According to the police, Ramsahay Jaiswal, the accused grocer, confessed to poisoning the victims, whom he claimed were his acquaintances, over a four-month period.The breakthrough arrest put an end to the nameless terror sweeping the sleepy hamlet in the Kasdol block ever since the poisoning deaths came to light.As it turned out, the unholy sequence of deaths were not the handiwork of an occultist, as was speculated, but a cool and calculated serial killer who executed the murders out of alleged personal vendetta over four months — between February and May.Revealing a chilling extent of premeditation that preceded the crimes, investigating officers said the grocer procured borax powder from a fellow villager, claiming it was for rodents that had infested his house.He then prepared a deadly concoction, which he trialled ‘successfully’ on a stray dog. Thereafter, the police revealed, he would invite his targets, one after the other, over to his place to drink, secretly mixing the lethal powder with their liquor and watching them consume it.To evade suspicion, Jaiswal feigned himself to be a concerned neighbour, as he helped rush his victims, writhing in pain, to the hospital and also participated actively in their funeral service or burials.The killing spree unraveled after suspicious residents noticed an unusual and disturbing pattern of deaths in the neighbourhood before lodging a joint complaint with the sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) on June 6.As the investigation moved through the gears, a special forensic team exhumed the remains of seven of the eight victims from their graves for scientific evaluation.Speaking to TOI, Baloda Bazar SP OP Sharma said while the breakthrough followed the detailed confessional statement of the accused, the forensic report to ascertain the exact chemical composition of the deadly powder was still awaited.On whether the accused was of a sick mind or suffered from any underlying psychological conditions, Sharma told TOI that there were no such indications so far.The killer calmly and vividly detailed exactly how and why he eliminated each victim, framing his actions entirely around what appeared to be trivial and petty long-standing grievances, the police revealed.The probe revealed further that he poisoned Chaituram Sahu, one of his eight victims, to escape a loan burden of Rs 50,000, while killing Gajanand Manjhi fearing that he was casting black magic spells (baiga-guniya) on him. Two more of his victims, Butalu Sahu and Mahetaru Sahu, were targeted over a political argument and public taunts that followed the 2023 assembly elections, while the remaining targets were wiped out over land feuds, domestic honor disputes, and regular verbal abuse, the police said.Jaiswal’s run of killings was broken on April 14, after his alleged ninth target, Kartik Kumhar, fell grave ill after consuming the poison-laced liquor but survived after making it to the hospital on time.The grocer-turned-serial killer was booked on eight counts of murder and one of attempted murder, with further legal procedures pending, police said.